UPDATE: Glynn County commissioner slain, body found in water

Glynn County Commissioner Tom Sublett was killed overnight and his death is being investigated as a homicide, Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering said.

Sublett's body was found floating between a dock and a boat at the St. Simons Boating and Fishing Club about 6 a.m., about 3 1/2 hours after his wife Carol became alarmed that he had not returned home and called friends he had been with earlier that night, Doering said.

Sublett had been at a regular Monday night gathering with friends in the Sterling community north of Brunswick and left about 10:30 to 10:40 p.m. Doering said.

"Tom had dropped off a friend of his'' at the friend's car also in the Sterling area, and was thought to have headed home to St. Simons, Doering said.

Friends began checking Sublett's usual route of travel home, and one, who had been with him in Sterling, found his car about 4 a.m. at Gascoigne Bluff, a county park that overlooks the Frederica River on the western side of St. Simons Island, Doering said.

About two hours later, another of Sublett's friends, who had not been in Sterling, walked out on the docks at the fishing club and saw his body, Doering said.

Before he was found, the U.S. Coast Guard, Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Glynn County search and recovery unit had been searching, Doering said.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation and FBI agents are also helping in the investigation, which will include a search of the Frederica River, Doering said.

An autopsy will be done on Sublett's body Wednesday at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Savannah Crime lab, Doering said.

Doering declined to discuss any possible motive in Sublett's death but said some items were missing.

"His wallet is not missing. I personally picked up his wallet,'' Doering said.

The death stunned county commissioners who gathered at the historic courthouse Tuesday morning to console each other.

The were also together at the county's Public Safety Complex when Doering spoke at an 11 a.m. news conference. The commissioners and County Administrator Alan Ours stood together listening and afterward met inside with Doering for a private briefing.

Doering said he told them about some newly discovered evidence he could not make public. Some new evidence was discovered just before his news conference.

Commission Chairman Richard Strickland called Sublett "a good friend and a great family man."

"He was probably one of the greatest community leaders I can recall," Strickland said earlier.

He also said that Sublett, "liked to cut the fool. He was a jokester. I was probably his favorite target."

He vowed that the community will do whatever it takes to bring Sublett's killers to justice.

"They will be caught,'' he said.

Elected in 2008, the St. Simons Island resident was leaving office Dec. 31 having decided not to seek re-election to District 2.

Doering had said that Sublett lived within half a mile of where his body was found.

He lived in Hamilton Landing, an upscale subdivision on the eastern side of Sea Island Road. Gascoigne Bluff is on the opposite side the roadway and slightly south.

Commissioner Clyde Taylor, who also lives in Hamilton Landing, said Sublett "lived right around the street from me."

Taylor said he respected Sublett for his service on the County Commission.

"I was extremely disappointed that he wasn't going to run again. He brought a lot of wisdom,'' Taylor said.

Sublett is survived by his wife Carol, daughters Leslie and Erin, sons Reid and Grant and two grandchildren.

"He had everything you would want in a family,'' Strickland said.

Sublett had been an executive in the food industry and was working in commercial and industrial real estate.

He had served as chairman of the Brunswick-Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce and was a member of the Live Oak Society, St. Simons Land Trust, the Rotary Club of Brunswick and was a senior warden at St. Marks Episcopal Church in Brunswick.

Glynn County has canceled all committee meetings. Sublett was chairman of the three-member Finance Committee which was to have met Tuesday.